Background

The internet plays a central role in health communication and has firmly established itself as a source of information on health issues. As a result, questions concerning the credibility and trustworthiness of health information have become increasingly relevant. First initiatives have been taken with the aim of making generally understandable health information available to citizens online. However, practical guidance for advising and educating citizens about online health information is currently not available. Users are therefore faced with the challenge of developing appropriate search and evaluation strategies as well as assessing the reliability of the sources.

Questions and Objectives

This project examines consumers’ central requirements for an objective and critical search, as well as for the evaluation and the use of digital health information. In three project phases, the following questions will be explored using a variety of research methods: (1) How do citizens search and find access to health information on the internet? (2) What criteria should be taken into account for assessing the quality of digital health information? (3) What strategies are conducive for providing a practical guide?

Based on these results, a consumers’ guide for digital health information will be developed. The aim is to strengthen consumers’ ability to independently identify relevant, high-quality health information that can be used for their personal health decisions.